Matriarchy

Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. While those definitions apply in general English, definitions specific to anthropology and feminism differ in some respects.^[1]^[2]

Matriarchies may also be confused with matrilineal, matrilocal, and matrifocal societies.^[3] While some may consider any non-patriarchal system to be matriarchal, most academics exclude those systems from matriarchies as strictly defined. Many societies have had matriarchal elements, but unlike the patriarchal, a complete exclusion of men in authority have not been recorded in history.

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^ Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy, Cornell University Press, 2002.

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[3] Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy, Cornell University Press, 2002.

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